Skills and knowledge are one of the key drivers of economic growth and social development for any country. As India positions itself to achieve strong economic growth, availability of highly-skilled workforce that can help organisations, across sectors, maintain their competitive capabilities will be key. This is particularly essential in technology-intensive sectors such as Aerospace & Defence (A&D), which is a lead adopter of technology in the design and manufacture of products and provision of services.

Over the last few years, India’s A&D sector has been growing steadily USD 10 billion in 2016 and is predicted to grow at an estimated CAGR of over 5% from 2017 to 2024, owing to multiple steps taken by the government as well as the industry.As the sector progresses with an exciting outlook ahead, it will need a steady pipeline of highly-skilled talent to support this growth.

While India’s talent availability - more than 3,500 engineering colleges producing about 1.5 million engineering graduates annually - is unmatched by any other country around the world, an issue that arises is the lack of employability. Companies have to invest significantly to make fresh talent “employable” with the right kind of skills and training.

Bridging the skill gap way will help increase the future competitiveness of the A&D sector and help India achieve its vision for long-term growth.

The skill gap

Globally, there is a fundamental shift happening in the evolving A&D sector, resulting in new needs for relevant and practical skills that were previously non-existent. The sector is moving fast to develop and deploy advanced manufacturing technologies such as additive manufacturing and robotics. It is increasingly leveraging big data and analytics to perform predictive and prescriptive maintenance and create new value-added services for the customers. Going forward, a highly-skilled workforce that can work with the advanced technologies to enable companies carry out critical research and development (R&D) and bring out innovative products and aftermarket services to the market will be the need of the hour.

This will require the need to understand the skills and competencies required, identify the skill gaps as well as the relevant training programmes for ensuring overall skill enhancement and development.Firstly, a background in mechanical/electrical/electronic engineering or mechatronics, is only the beginning. To enhance practical problem solving, the focus should be on widening the limited domain knowledge as well as enhancing the soft skills. Engineering talent also needs to be trained on the global skills that will make them receptive to international standards of safety and quality.

Secondly, as the job functions are becoming more specialised, earning certifications is a viable solution for educated workers to hone their existing knowledge. At present, only select Indian universities offer courses tailor-made for the A&D sector.

Bridging the skill gapIt is imperative for the workforce to bridge the skill gap and remain employable by continually developing new skills to keep up with emerging technologies and opportunities. Here are a few combinations of short and long-term strategies that A&D companies can do to build employability:

A defined career pathA clear understanding of the career path is crucial for attracting talent in developing a career in the A&D sector. Companies can start working with high schools to attract young talent and also look at recruiting women who often constitute a large untapped demographic. Additionally, a clear career progression roadmap, helps retain experienced technical specialist in the industry.

Evolving technologyTechnology such as additive manufacturing, advanced robotics and automation, big data and analytics are emerging continuously. The trainings must keep pace with these advancements.

In-house trainingConsidering the precision of skills required in the A&D sector, having rigorous training across the entire value chain to ensure that employees are quickly absorbing the new technologies, commercial advancements as well as regulatory changes, is important. Globally, Rolls-Royce, invests millions of pounds every year in learning and development to raise the standards of competitive performance; develop business management and leadership skills; promote innovation; help people realise their potential; and contribute to increased customer satisfaction.

GovernmentThe government can play an active role by building a framework to recognise industry members who actively develop and implement technical career progression through continuous learning programmes is crucial. This will encourage industry players to invest in training and time to develop talent. Additionally, an increased collaboration between all key stakeholders - academic institutions, training organisations, policy-makers, and the industry is necessary to fast-pace development of skills required by the industry.

Not only for sector’s competitiveness, but also for a country to be globally competitive, a highly-skilled workforce is considered to be the most important capability. As India’s industries grow, demand for highly-skilled talent will continue to grow and will be a key differentiator going forward to maintain current and future competitiveness.